Toilet paper giant to jettison 12% of workfoce

The future of 1,600 UK jobs has been thrown into doubt after the owner of Andrex toilet tissue and Huggies nappies yesterday announced a swingeing cost-cutting drive.

Kimberly-clark said that it planned to slash between 5,000 and 5,500 roles from its 43,000-strong global workforce – about 12 per cent of the headcount.

The Texas-based personal care giant has three UK factories in Barrow-infurness, Flint and Northfleet, as well as offices in Reigate, West Malling and Brighton.

Kimberley said the costcutting would hit “all of the company’s business segments and organisations in each major geography”, with 10 manufacturing plants earmarked for sale or closure.

The group is eyeing annual cost savings of up to $550 million (£393m) by 2021.

Chairman and chief executive Thomas Falk said: “This is the biggest restructuring we have undertaken since the introduction of our Global Business Plan in 2003, and it will make our company leaner, stronger and faster.”